The poet knows pain.
The poet though, will make sure
You live forever.

A poem in dealing:
Drink.
****.
Pills.
Excess.
Repeat.

You're not Bukowski.

The sun sets silently inside of you.
This is true.
Let it engulf you.
We all need to burn.
This is true.

A look to a child
In all their unbridled
Innocence
And a thought:
Where did I leave mine?

It is all over the place.
The traumas of growing up.
The realization that people
Are their own worse enemies
At times.

All the time instead.

In the broken pieces
Of you,
Put back together
In a haste,
Only to be shattered again.

This innocence,
Abstract now,
Does exist
In the person you
Once were,
That child nurtured
To love, molded to hate.

A rotten fruit now;
Only on the inside.

Your smiles have turned
Into dissatisfaction for
Your lack of action
In existing,
Forgetting to live.

You grew up too fast.
Now it is to late to go back.

Everything speaks through the silence,
Like family heirlooms
Or
Picture frames of a time
Belonging to your past.

Listen.
Through the nothingness of it.

It is the sound of the tides slamming inside of your head.

Say this or look at that or avoid this.
Your head is polluted.
It is years of humanity delicately turning your heart into stone.
It has become an immortal God, flawed in all its beauty;
In all its silence.
In all its truth.

Your love is
A made
Up

Piece.
Peace.

It hides deep in your dark trenches.
It is the boldness of joy!
Rip it out of you and be relentless.
Be careful though; watch out for those menacing decoys.

Your happiness isn't in others.
It doesn't belong to them.
Treat it like you would your mother.
Tend to it and whatever you do: don't pull out the stem!

Your chest swells up with sadness.
Don't think that's not okay.
I know that it may all be madness,
But after it, you'll be left feeling gay.

You will sometimes feel scared.
You may sometimes feel sad.
Although you don't know it you will always be prepared.
It's okay to get mad.

I will always be there for you.

A best friend to love you.
A lover who knows how strong you are.

Your soul is battered.
Life can be tough.
No matter what though,
I'll always be by your side.

You're not alone.

I love you.

-For Julie.